INTRODUCTION. XXxi 
being characterized as new in this work. Of the twelve species occurring in Central 
America, eleven belong to Hyporhagus (six new) and one to Aspathines (also new). 
Both Aspathines and Hyporhagus are represented in the Antilles. 
The family Lagriide, with which we commence our second volume, is a very 
extensive one, represented in almost all parts of the World. It has this peculiarity, 
that all the American genera appear to be endemic. Liagria, the typical genus of the 
Lagriide, is distributed over the greater part of the Old World, not only in the 
temperate but in the tropical regions also, and it extends to Australia and Tasmania ; 
yet it is altogether absent from the American continent, where it is replaced by Statira, 
the largest genus of the family, and one of the most characteristic of the American 
genera of Heteromera. The Central-American Lagriide greatly resemble those of 
Tropical South America, and of the new genera described, Hpicydes only is likely 
to be endemic. The number of species here enumerated from within our limits is 
107, belonging to nine genera, of which six genera and ninety-seven species are 
described as new. The majority of the species belong to Statira, which contains 
hundreds of representatives in Tropical South America and extends northward into 
the United States, where a few species occur; no fewer than eighty-three inhabit 
Central America, of which seventy-five are described as new. ‘The other genera 
contain but few species, one only, Uroplatopsis, calling for special comment. The 
different species of Lagriide are found upon herbage, and they are most abundant 
in the forest region. 
The family Melandryide, with which the ‘Scraptiides’ and the ‘ Mycterides’ are 
here merged, contains but a limited number of repre sentatives within our limits. The 
various genera belonging to it are essentially wood-feeders, yet, notwithstanding the 
immense amount of forest, they are conspicuous by their absence. ‘lhe Melandryide, 
however, are, no doubt, chiefly confined to the temperate regions of the globe, north 
and south; they are everywhere scarce within the tropics, where they seem to be 
replaced by the group ‘ Diaperides’ of the Tenebrionide. From within our limits forty- 
five species only are enumerated, belonging to twenty genera, and nine genera and 
forty species are described as new. The group ‘ Melandryides’ is chiefly represented 
by the genera Hustrophus, Hustrophopsis, Dircwa, Cuphosis, Orchesia, and Symphora ; 
of these, three genera, Hustrophus, Dircwa, and Orchesia, are of wide distribution. 
The group ‘ Scraptiides,’ consisting of very fragile insects of small size, is widely distri- 
buted, species even occurring in Tasmania and New Zealand ; the largest known species 
